Florida’s very rare pillar coral is being added to the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the listing Monday.
The rare corals look like fingers reaching up from the reef and can only be found off Florida and in the Caribbean.
The coral had dwindled to just five hundred small colonies when stoney coral disease appeared in 2014 and wiped out most of what was left.
By 2021, researchers had only found two colonies remaining in Florida capable of spawning and reproducing more pillar coral.
Efforts are now underway to breed the coral at the Florida Aquarium.
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